Big house with bags of character and easy access to beaches, cafés and cobbled streets, coastal paths and hidden coves

Heaps to do on-site: organic farm shop & café, cookery & cheese-making courses, farm tours. A brilliant base for exploring the Cotswolds too

Near lively Lyon, this handsome family house is perfect for a Zen-like escape with delicious vegetarian meals and well-travelled hosts

A peaceful, beautiful place to wake up in and to return to after glorious walks, with no near neighbours apart from curious sheep

Gaze on Umbrian hills as the children play, watch the fireflies dance at night. Dine fabulously in Gubbio - or here. Sociable-family bliss

Come for hearty Lakeland adventures, pretty towns and villages, and a rather special stay in this warm and welcoming country inn

You are treated like nobility in this gorgeous Manoir, enveloped by the towering cliffs and Aurélia and Julien's generous hospitality

Elegant B&B tucked down a quiet alleyway close to St Mark’s Square, with friendly hosts and a rooftop offering spectacular views of the city

A nicely priced inn on Shaftesbury's high street with a warm contemporary style and some excellent food – fine local walking waits

This friendly, Scottish island B&B has the Atlantic at the end of the garden and air so clean the lichen grows like beards from the trees

A charming 17th-century village inn, a destination place for foodies and real beer lovers, with very comfortable and stylish bedrooms

Play boules in the garden, swim in the natural pool and enjoy Monica’s wonderful cooking served with local wines at this village farmhouse

Guarded by high gates is a spacious oasis on the edge of the village, full of friendliness and charm, perfect for walking, cycling, markets

Stylish interiors, beautiful rooms, lovely staff and wonderful food – all this in the Forest of Dean with great walking and cycling trails

A beautifully renovated traditional manor house with extensive gardens and orchard, a pool with a deck in a meadow and a terrace for dining

A fin-de-siècle Franco-Scottish décor for this hospitable, entertaining B&B, in the heart of Edinburgh’s cultural quarter

A handsome little château perched on the edge of a verdant valley, with wonderful views, lots of space and a rambling garden

Cross an ancient stone bridge to a 1790s estate cottage, completely on its own down a little-used green lane and with the river rushing by